How a Rubiks Cube Helps with Traumatic Brain Injury

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I began working with a Rubik’s Cube about 18 months ago while in the James A Haley VA Polytrauma Unit for TBI. It took months, but I memorized the algorithms and hand movements and like a cool parlor trick i became fast enough to complete it in under a minute. However, I found that if I didn’t actively practice at least once a day (pick it up and do it once), that it almost immediately went away, like everything else in my short term memory, and I would have to relearn the entire process from the beginning – GROUND ZERO. I’ve done this 3 times in the past 18 months. Consequently, I began to see some positive effects from this drill just in the way I was thinking, and also remembering things. I began to “Picture” where I had left the keys instead of trying to remember where I had left them. If that seems simple, it isn’t. To me it was like suddenly being able to speak a new language. This was all very subtle, and happened in small steps, but it has encouraged me to continue to practice. Happy Thanksgiving! Josh

1 Comment

Jeffrey Sean Snow
on May 8, 2016 at 7:59 pm

I learned how to solve the Cube when I was 12yo in 1981, I solved the Rubiks Cube in 2 minutes and 19 seconds then. In 1985 I was hit by a car going 40mph, in a coma one month and a half. I later tried but. could only remember the top and first two rows. I watched a tutorial on you tube and it refreshed my memory and I can now solve the cube again but in just under 16 minutes now in 2016.

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